The Battle of Britain
approaching Britain.]] The Battle of Britain 'was a major engagement between the German Luftwaffe and British RAF in 1940. Page 170|group="N"}} It was supposed to be a precedent to a larger invasion of Britain that never took place due to the failure of the ''Luftwaffe. However, Britain had been severely damaged and repairs would not be finished until the late 1950s.TIME WW2 book series History Prelude Responding to the rearmament of Germany, the British cabinet approved a switch of emphasis in aircraft production on 22 December 1937, favoring fighters over bombers, overruling the nation's air experts. This dramatic change was brought about by the Minister for defence co-ordination, Sir Thomas Inskip, who argued that the role of the Royal Air Force was not to deliver a knockout blow against Germany, but to prevent the Luftwaffe from delivering a knockout blow against Britain. This decision ultimately led to Britain's victory in the Battle of Britain. Page 60 The Build up (July 10th - August 7th) On 14 July, the British government announced that, because Germany were evidently using Red Cross seaplanes for coastal reconnaissance, these aircraft would no longer be immune from attack. This was most likely based on examination of the He 59 which beached near Deal after being shot down, along with it's Bf 109 escort, by Spitfires three days earlier.Townsend Bickers, Richard. Page 171 1st Phase (August 8th - August 18th) On 8 August Flight Lieutenant James B Nicholson attacked a German squadron over the New Forest, while his own aircraft was in flames. Nicholson was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the only one awarded during the Battle.Goralski, Robert. Page 128 The Luftwaffe Quartermaster General's record for 17 August showed that front line units possessed 3,157 serviceable aircraft, shared between 5 Luftflotten, including the newly created Luftflotte 5 controlling operations in Denmark and Norway. Page 30 2nd Phase (August 19th - September 5th) This phase began with Hermann Goering conferring with his Air Corps and Geschwader commanders, informing them that they had reached a decisive period of the air war against Britain, while repeating his order of 15 August that priority should be placed against attacks on British fighters.Townsend Bickers, Richard. Page 178 3rd Phase (September 6th to October 5th) The beginning of this phase saw the issuing of an Operations Order containing a statement of intention, leading to the high intensity raids that followed.Townsend Bickers, Richard. Page 180 4th Phase (October 6th - October 31st) It was during this phase that the Corpo Aereo Italiano began operating against England, with 17 BR-20M bombers carried out an air raid against Ramsgate on the 24th of October. Page 34 By the end of this phase, the RAF claimed to have destroyed 2,698 aircraft over the course of the battle, with the Luftwaffe claiming the destruction of 3,058. Immediate Aftermath (November 1st, 1940 - February 8th, 1941) This phase was characterised by the night-time raids that made up The Blitz. It was during this phase that the Corpo Aereo Italiano ended it's cross Channel operations, with 2 BR-20M bombers attacking Ipswich on the 2nd of January, 1941. References Notes Sources Category:1940 Category:Battles in the Western Front